Ano Fuyu no Toki
by 1 Litre of Tears Sakura
Summary: Months have passed since Sakura captured the Nothing. Currently, it is winter vacation for the students of Tomoeda Elementary. As they walk home, Sakura and Tomoyo are suddenly pulled into an entirely new world. What adventures will await them there?
1. The Meeting

Ano Fuyu no Toki

A/N: I've decided to make a completely new CCS/Pokemon crossover fanfiction. My first one just looks painstakingly horrible to me now, so I decided to turn over a new leaf and make a new one. Regarding the Pokemon World, this fanfic will take place in the Sinnoh Region and will be somewhat based off of the anime. Of course, the dialogues will be different from the anime. Sorry if my fic lacks description. I haven't written anything in a long time.

Some things about this fanfic:

Team Rocket's keeping their old motto. To hell with the new one, I like the old one better.

Misty will get several appearances in this, unlike in the anime. May will also get some appearances.

Because I don't know the genders of Pokemon in the anime (except Aipom, whom was confirmed to be female in one of the episodes, and Meowth), they're all male until corrected by you, the reviewers.

* * *

Chapter One: The Meeting

Several months had passed since the capture, sealing, and conversion of the Nothing Card. The small town of Tomoeda was quiet once again, and no strange occurrences happened since then, which greatly disappointed the Cardmistress' best friend. No longer was she able to design wacky costumes for her friend's adventure. At the same time, Syaoran Li had returned to Hong Kong. Currently, it was the end of the school day at Tomoeda Elementary school, as well as the start of winter vacation. Inside one of the classrooms, Sakura Kinomoto was getting ready to leave as she gathered up her textbooks and placed them into her brown backpack.

"Have a nice winter vacation," Chiharu exclaimed to both Sakura and Tomoyo before heading out of the classroom.

Tomoyo smiled as she waved after the brunette pigtailed girl. "You too, Chiharu." Turning to Sakura, she asked, "What are you going to do for winter vacation?"

Sakura shrugged. She really didn't know what she was going to do for winter vacation. Her father hadn't made any plans so far yet. Two years ago, they'd spent their winter vacation in Hong Kong, but that was because Sakura had won a drawing to go there. "Syaoran…" she murmured. Thinking of Hong Kong made her think of the Chinese boy who had declared his love for her after she had transformed all the remaining Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. At first, Sakura had no idea how to respond to his confession, but over the summer, she was able to with a little push from the Hope Card.

"I don't know yet," she said to Tomoyo. "I'll ask dad when he comes home from work."

"You were thinking of Li before, weren't you?" Tomoyo inquired.

Sakura let out a small laugh. Tomoyo had a knack for observing and reading people. "Nothing gets past you, Tomoyo." She nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking about him. We stay in contact a lot, but I want to see him face to face again. I never knew that a relationship would feel like this."

"It's normal to feel that way. And since it's winter vacation, he might come back for a visit," Tomoyo advised as she slung her backpack over her shoulders. "Anyway, we should probably head out now. Everyone's gone except us."

The Cardmistress nodded. "Mm. I hope he does."

Snow was falling steadily outside, adding more to the frosty blanket of white covering the ground. Both girls were bundled up in their Tomoeda Elementary coats to keep themselves warm from the chilling winter air. Advancing past the gates, Sakura and Tomoyo walked their way home, stopping by Sakura's house first. They walked their way through Penguin Park, a popular place for young children to play and hang out. As they passed the King Penguin Slide, laughters of younger children filled the air. Glancing over at the slide, Sakura watched as a little boy slid down the slide, his arms raised. At the same time, she was still walking.

Eventually, the girls came across a bridge. Usually nothing ever occurred around here, except for the time when the Nothing made part of the bridge completely disappear, but for some reason, Sakura felt a strange aura. Furrowing her eyes, she glanced around. Tomoyo noticed the look on her face and recognized it to be Sakura's "I sense something" look. Inside, she felt giddy. Yes! Perhaps this was a chance to start making costumes regularly again! Trying her best to keep her excitement, Tomoyo asked, "What is it?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm not sure." She took some steps forward, alert and wary as she searched around for the source of the aura. "I thought I'd captured all the cards already? And Eriol returned to England, so it can't be him that's causing all this." She suddenly let out a cry as she was suddenly pulled forward against her will by some invisible force. Alarmed, Tomoyo ran forward and grabbed her friend's wrist to try and pull her friend back, but it was no use. She was pulled forward along with Sakura as well. Confusion swept over her upon seeing reality warp before her eyes, as well as seeing something that was not a part of Tomoeda or Japan at all.

"Hoe!" the Cardmistress cried as she stumbled forward. Before she had any chance to fall flat on her face, she was pulled back by Tomoyo. Heaving a sigh, she turned to face her. "Thanks, I--" She stopped mid-sentence, having noticed something was completely off. They were standing in the middle of a moving train! Weren't they about to cross a bridge a second ago? "Where are we?"

"I noticed something weird when you got pulled forward, but I don't know how to describe it," Tomoyo admitted, also taking a look around "There was some kind of...ripple in the air or something. I wonder why we're on a train. Do you think Kero might know anything about this?"

"I don't think so," Sakura replied. She took out her cell phone. "Let me try and call Eriol to see what's going on." Upon hearing an automated message several times, she groaned. "He's not picking up."

Tomoyo frowned. "I don't believe we're in Tomoeda anymore...or rather, Japan." She pointed towards the strange creatures that resembled animals on board. One was a yellow rodent-like creature with long, pointy ears in which the tips were black and had a lightning-shaped tail, and the other was a small, blue penguin-like creature. There was even a cat that walked on two legs and had a golden charm on its forehead! "Maybe we can ask them for help."

"But wouldn't it be strange to say that we came from another...world or something? I mean, these creatures don't exist in our world," Sakura wondered.

"We don't have to mention it; we can just ask where we are," Tomoyo smiled. Approaching the owners of the yellow mouse and blue penguin creatures, whom she found out were almost around the same age as her and Sakura, she asked, "Excuse me, would you tell us where we are?"

The girl with blue hair looked up at Tomoyo with confusion. "We're on a train to Lake Acuity. Surely you must've known where this train is headed?"

"Err, we're not from around here," Sakura spoke up as she walked up next to Tomoyo. "What is this Lake Acuity? I've never heard of it before. And...what are these creatures?" She stared at them with great curiosity. They were...oddly cute, she had to admit.

The boys sitting alongside the blue-haired girl widened their eyes. "You mean you don't know what Pokemon are?" the taller and older of the boys demanded. "Okay, first off, we're in the Sinnoh Region. Pokemon are creatures that possess different types of powers. Pikachu here is an electric type Pokemon, so it uses electric-type powers. On the other hand, Piplup is a water Pokemon, so it uses water-type moves. Where are you two from, anyway?"

"It's something we'd like to keep a secret," Sakura said with a nervous smile. _Of course. They'd probably find us more weird if I said Tomoyo and I came from another world; a world where these creatures called Pokemon don't exist. _"I'm Kinomoto, by the way. Kinomoto Sakura!" It would be best to introduce herself now than later. Her tone was light and cheerful, typical of her upbeat personality.

"I'm Daidouji Tomoyo," Tomoyo added.

"Hello there. My name's Dawn," the blue-haired girl introduced with a warm smile. "Brock already told you about Piplup, so introductions there!"

"Piplup!" Piplup chirped, putting on a haughty and prideful expression.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura and Tomoyo. My name's Ash," the younger of the two boys spoke. He wore a red and black cap with a blue arc and a round blue dot in the center, as well as a black jacket vest with a single yellow stripes in the middle over a white short-sleeved shirt, and blue jeans. His hands were covered with fingerless gloves. "This is my best buddy, Pikachu."

"PikaPikachu!" Pikachu greeted, waving one paw.

"And I'm Brock," Brock spoke lastly. "Are you girls hungry? There's a guy named Looker handing out boxed lunches."

Sakura shook her head. "Nah, we just had lunch three hours ago. Thank you for your kind offer."

"So what do you do around here?" Tomoyo asked as she took out her video camera and randomly pointed it around before aiming them at Pikachu and Piplup.

Ash grinned. "Well, you go on adventures and capture lots of different Pokemon and train them. At the same time, you battle them to boost up their experience."

Sakura and Tomoyo frowned. Battling creatures against another? That didn't sound very appealing. "Watching these creatures battling against each other...is it fun?" Sakura asked. "I mean, isn't it mean to have them battle against each other? What happens if they get severely injured?"

Brock raised an eyebrow. "You're _really_ not from this world. We have Pokemon Centers that are like hospitals where we bring our Pokemon in for healing. I'm a Pokemon Breeder, so whenever we can't locate the nearest Pokemon Center, I step in and do the healing. Anyway, Pokemon battles are a natural thing in this world. We battle Pokemon to make them stronger. And by battling Pokemon, you can unlock some new moves of your own Pokemon."

"I see," Tomoyo replied. "But it still doesn't sound very appealing to us."

"You'll get used to it eventually," Dawn replied. "If you're not used to intense battling, you can become a Contest Coordinator like me. We like to show off our Pokemon's strength and beauty in them! It's a lot of fun and you win a contest ribbon if you win the contest! Of course, there's battling at the final round, but it ends once the timer is up. "

"We'll think about that," Sakura said with a smile. She turned to Tomoyo. "We should probably sit down somewhere now."

Tomoyo nodded. "Yes." She turned to Ash, Dawn, and Brock. "Thank you for the warm welcome." She followed Sakura to the seats in front of the three trainers and sat down next to her friend. "Hey, do you think Kero would have passed off as a Pokemon if he'd came with us?"

Sakura laughed. "Probably."


	2. Trouble Ahead

Ano Fuyu no Toki

* * *

Chapter 2: Trouble Ahead

Sakura leaned back against the seat of the train, her hands gripping the white skirt of her Tomoeda school uniform. Would she and Tomoyo be stuck wearing these uniforms for the next couple of days while she tried to figure out how to get them back home? Never had she gone a day without washing her uniform. Plus, it would be uncomfortable to sleep in school attire.

"Those people are nice," Tomoyo complimented as she glanced briefly behind her shoulders before looking forward.

"Mm," Sakura nodded. "I don't like the idea of these…Pokemon being used for battles, but I guess it's something I have to deal with while we're here." Her hand slipped into her backpack, then withdrew as she pulled out the deck of Sakura Cards. To an ordinary person, they seemed like tarot cards, but they were actually magical cards that withheld a lot of power. Sakura shuffled through the cards, trying to figure out which card would assist them in getting back to their own world. Feeling a nudge from Tomoyo, she looked up in confusion.

"Ash, Dawn, and Brock are passing this way. I think you should put them away before they see them," Tomoyo said warningly, her sapphire orbs full of wary as the three trainers started to pass by them to go to who knows where. Sakura quickly stowed the cards back into her backpack and watched as Ash, Dawn, and Brock made their way to the front of the train where the engineer and conductor were located, then sighed.

"I hope we find a way to get back soon. Dad and oniichan must be worried sick by now. I hope they don't call the police and issue a search party for me," she murmured as she glanced out the window.

"YOU, WHERE'S MY SISTER?!" the loud booming voice of Touya Kinomoto echoed across the walls of Sakura's bedroom as he stormed inside and grabbed the tiny yellow winged guardian. When Kero didn't speak, Touya narrowed his eyes. Really, how long was this thing going to stay quiet and pretend to be a stuffed animal? He'd known since day one that the small creature was not an ordinary toy, so why was this thing even trying? "Don't pretend you're a stuffed animal! I know you can talk! Where is she?!" he growled.

Still, Kero continued to stay quiet.

Frustrated, Touya let go of the Sun Guardian, letting him drop onto Sakura's bed like a regular old stuffed animal before leaving the bedroom. Once he was gone, Kero sat up and rubbed his forehead. "Geez, her brother's troublesome." He frowned. "Sakura is missing? Surely she could have just gone out with Tomoyo." Suddenly, he felt a strange aura issuing from somewhere and narrowed his beady eyes. What could it be? Where was it coming from? It wasn't coming from anywhere in the Kinomoto household, that's for sure.

"Don't worry, you will," Tomoyo smiled. "Nothing can deter our Cardcapto---I mean, Cardmistress!"

Sakura smiled back, grateful at her friend for cheering her up. "Thanks. But what do you think your mother would do?"

"Probably the same as your parents," Tomoyo replied. "But even if they search all over Japan, they won't be able to find us, seeing how we're not in the same world anymore." Suddenly hearing voices coming from somewhere behind them, she glanced back behind her shoulders again to see the trio with the cat-like Pokemon talking amongst one another. The clothing they wore was very strange, and made them suspicious-looking.

"Tomoyo? What are you looking at?" Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

"They seem to be saying something, but I can't really hear. All I can hear is something about them nabbing Pikachu, that yellow mouse creature, but that's it," Tomoyo answered. "Hey, we stopped."

"Hoe?" Why would the two people in trench coats want to steal Ash's Pikachu? Couldn't they get one of their own? Sakura then stuck her auburn head out the window to see what the problem was. Sure enough, there was a red light up ahead. No doubt that was the factor for the train's halting. "There's a red light up ahead. I'm going to see what's going on." She stood up from her seat to go to the front of the train.

"I'm coming with you," Tomoyo said as she also stood up and followed behind Sakura. Upon entering the front part of the train, they heard the engineer talking over the telephone briefly before setting the device down. Both girls glanced at one another in confusion before Sakura spoke up. "Is there something wrong?"

"Well, the command center said no trouble has been reported or warranted a red light, but there's no mechanical malfunction either," the engineer explained, his words directed to everyone inside the control center.

"Then what could be stopping this train?" Tomoyo asked.

"We don't know, but there could be trouble that hasn't been reported yet. I'm going to go take a look and see," the engineer replied before he started to exit the train. Another guy with grayish hair and a long brown coat joined in on the investigation. After they left and the engineer directed a bigger yellow creature, whom he called Ampharos, to the passenger area to alert them what was going on, Sakura turned to Ash, Dawn, and Brock.

"I hope they find out what's causing this train to stop," she said worriedly.

"I'm sure they will. In the meantime, would you like to join us for lunch? You two can meet our other Pokemon," Brock suggested.

"Yeah, come join us!" Dawn grinned. "Brock's an amazing cook!"

"Really? Sakura's a pretty good cook as well," Tomoyo spoke, though not trying to sound like she was boasting about her friend's cooking ability.

"Ahaha, I don't think I'm that good," Sakura laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I'd like to try your cooking sometime," nodded Brock. "It'll be nice to have a helping hand when it comes to cooking. Plus, you might know some recipes I don't know."

Sakura's eyes widened with astonishment as she glanced around at the different Pokemon released out of their Pokeball (another factor she didn't like---why were they cramped up into such a tiny ball?) to eat from the many bowls set out for them. So many Pokemon, all in different shapes and sizes! One looked like a blue and white squirrel, another looked like an overgrown bat, another resembled an orange monkey, and so on. "Waah! So many of them!" she cried.

"There's over four hundred Pokemon total," Brock replied with a laugh.

"This one's so cute," Tomoyo giggled as she bent down in front of a pink Pokemon with a small white rock in its pouch. She prodded the creature with her index finger. Surprisingly, the Pokemon seemed to like it, and squealed, "Happiny!"

"This is Happiny," Brock introduced. "Happiny, are you full?" Happiny gave a cheerful chirrup in response. Brock then asked the same to his other two Pokemon, Sudowoodo and Croagunk.

"Alright, let's practice for our match with Paul!" Ash declared not too far away. But before his Pokemon could do anything, a powerful gust of wind suddenly came from out of nowhere, despite there being no wind on this particular day, and swept them upward.

Shielding her arm in front of her, Sakura cried, "What's going on here?"

"PIKACHU! EVERYONE!" Ash yelled, staring up at the source that took his Pokemon along with everyone else's. There was a giant purple suction device that was connected to a large balloon in the shape of a cat-like Pokemon, and in the basket of the balloon were a male with purplish-blue hair and a female with gravity-defying red hair. Cackling came from both of them before they threw off their coats to reveal white uniforms with a bright red R across the center of their shirts and began chanting some kind of motto.

"To protect the world from devastation!" the red-haired female shouted.

"To unite all people within our nation," the male declared.

"What are they going on about?" Tomoyo asked Ash, Dawn, and Brock. Sakura was also curious about it and turned to face the trainers for information.

"It's just their motto. It gets pretty outdated once you hear them say it more than a hundred times each day," Dawn laughed.

"They're Team Rocket and they're always stealing Pokemon," Ash growled as he clenched his fists.

"That explains why they were talking about nabbing Pikachu on the train, then," Tomoyo said.

"What?" Brock furrowed his eyebrows. "You heard them say that?"

"Well, I didn't know what they were going on about, but I did hear them say that. I didn't think they were actually serious," Tomoyo frowned.

"HEY! DON'T GO AND CALL OUR MOTTO OUTDATED!" the cat-like Pokemon yelled.

"Did…did that creature just talk?" Sakura blinked.

"That's Meowth. Normally, Pokemon aren't supposed to talk, but Meowth's the only one that can mimic human language," Brock explained.

"Give our Pokemon back!" Ash shouted angrily at Team Rocket.

"No can do!" the female called Jessie sneered as she folded her arms.

"How dare you do this to our passengers! Ampharos, use Signal Beam!" the engineer commanded to his Ampharos. The yellow Pokemon fired a beam of light from its forehead towards the large orange compartment trapping Ash, Dawn, and Brock's smaller Pokemon inside, shattering a hole in it. Brock commanded the Pokemon to jump down onto the grass below, but before they could all land, Team Rocket casted a net, capturing Pikachu, Piplup, and Happiny.

"Get the passenger's Pokemon back," the engineer commanded to Ampharos. Nodding, Ampharos leapt up towards the net and held a tight grip on It. Agitated, Team Rocket tried to shake Ampharos loose, but it wouldn't let go. The Pokemon then tried to destroy the control, but missed completely and tore a hole in the balloon, causing it to spiral away further out somewhere.

Quickly, Ash, Dawn, and Brock withdrew their Pokemon before they ran off to go find Team Rocket, Brock telling the engineer not to worry about them and to worry about the conductor instead. He then turned to Sakura and Tomoyo. "You two stay here with the engineer and wait for Looker and the conductor to come back while we search for our Pokemon."

After the trainers left, Sakura turned to Tomoyo. "I want to help look for the Pokemon, and coverage by air should be much faster than by ground."

Tomoyo widened her eyes. "By air? You mean---"

Sakura nodded. "I'm going to keep on the down-low, don't worry. I'll try and keep out of their way and at the same time try not to be noticed by those thieves called Team Rocket." She turned and ran down the path until she was well enough away from Tomoyo and the conductor, as well as anyone who may be in sight, and took out her Star Key from around her neck. Holding the small key in the palm of her hand, she chanted, "Key that holds the power of the stars, reveal your true form before me. I, Sakura, command you under contract. Release!" The key floated an inch above her hand, enclosed in a small orb, as it spun rapidly around. Underneath Sakura's feet was her infamous magic circle, wind picking up around it. The key lengthened into a staff as it got longer. Once it reached its full height, Sakura grabbed the wand's rod and twirled it in her hands before tossing a card up into the air. "FLY!"

Wings sprouted on Sakura's back as she took off to the sky, trying to keep herself as hidden as possible. It wouldn't be good if anyone found out that she was actually a sorceress. Who knows what might happen if they found out. She kept her eyes alert as she searched around the area. If the Pokemon had magical auras, it would be much easier to find them, but they didn't. Somewhere close by, Sakura heard Ash, Brock, and Dawn calling for Pikachu, Piplup, and Happiny. "Okay, gotta stay away from them," she muttered as she continued to fly forward, her white wings flapping against the air.

"Where'd your friend go?" the engineer inquired as he turned to face Tomoyo. "Didn't Brock tell you two to stay put?"

Tomoyo laughed. "Well, Sakura's the type of person who wants to help others. She's probably with them." The last part was a lie, but what else was she supposed to say? "My friend's secretly a sorceress and so she's going to go look for the Pokemon via the Fly Card"? The engineer would probably look at her as if she was crazy!

"Hey, Tomoyo!" a very familiar voice called. Tomoyo glanced over her shoulder, wondering where the voice came from. At the sight of the tiny Sun Guardian, she widened her eyes. Did he get pulled into this world as well? "Kero! Wha--"

"There's been some kind of magical disturbance centering around Tomoeda, but I don't know much information about it. It must have led you two into this alternate world. I came here through some weird portal near the bridge ("that's where we got sucked in!" Tomoyo cried). Anyway, Sakura's brother and dad are getting pretty worried, especially the brother," Kero explained. He rubbed the back of his head. "He was trying to force me into talking, ugh. Anyway, where's Sakura?"

"She went off to look for the stolen Pokemon," Tomoyo answered.

Kero blinked. "Pokemon?"

"Yeah, they're strange looking creatures that resemble animals and possess elemental powers or something like that," explained Tomoyo. "Trainers battle them and keep them in tiny red and white balls called Pokeballs. Since you're here, you're going to have to disguise yourself as a Pokemon. Pokemon usually repeat their names---"

"Hold up. Are you saying I have to say 'Kerberos Kerberos' or 'Kero Kero' over and over again?" Kero demanded, not liking the idea of having to repeat his name god knows how many times.

"Well, there is a Meowth who speaks human language, so you can be like it…" Tomoyo said, letting her sentence trail off. "Anyway, Sakura tried calling Hiiragizawa, but she can't seem to get through to him. Is it because we're not in the same world anymore?"

"That's probably why," Kero said thoughtfully. "I don't think it's him causing mischief again. Even if he's the reincarnation of Clow Reed, even Clow Reed can't do something like this. I'm going to go look for Sakura." With that, he took off towards the forest, keeping his senses open for his mistress' bright pink aura.

Meanwhile, Sakura was still continuing her search for Team Rocket, Pikachu, Piplup, Ampharos, and Happiny. Spotting Team Rocket's busted balloon up ahead, she lit up and let herself land before calling back the Fly Card. Then, running up to them, she demanded, "Where are they?"

"Oh, look, it's the brown-head twerpette who latched on to the other twerps," Meowth sneered. "If you're looking for the Pokemon, they ran off."

Dismissing the 'twerpette' comment, Sakura blinked. "Ran off? Where?"

Jessie scoffed. "Do you think we know? They just ran off down that wa----hey, where are you going?!" Before she could finish, Sakura had turned and ran down the path Jessie had pointed to. Taking out another card, Sakura waited until she was out of sight from Team Rocket before tossing it up into the air. "JUMP!" This time, wings appeared on her shoes as Sakura leapt gracefully up and down the path. Eventually, she came to a cliff and had to slow herself down before peering down. To her shock, Pikachu, Piplup, Happiny, and Ampharos were trying to move a rather large boulder in the middle of the pathway spiraling around the cliff. However, Sakura was even more astonished and amazed when the little Happiny somehow was able to pick up such a heavy object. _It reminds me of the Power Card,_ Sakura thought.

"Everyone!" she called as she leapt down, the Jump Card allowing her to land safely. She ran up to the four Pokemon, concern written across her face.

"Pika? Pikachu!" Pikachu lit up upon seeing Sakura. Although Pikachu had just met Sakura and Tomoyo that day, he was really happy to see the brown-haired girl. He blinked upon seeing the wings on Sakura's shoes. What were they? Piplup and Happiny were excited to see the Cardmistress as well.

"Come on, let's get back to the others," Sakura said. She then frowned as she glanced around. "…but which way's back?" Nothing in this world was familiar at all to her, and she couldn't remember her way back. At this moment, she wished she had the ability to create her own Sakura Cards and make The Map to help her with directions in this world.

Moments later, Sakura found herself following behind the four Pokemon as they tried to go back to the train. It was odd that she was following these creatures, but they were familiar with this world, even if this is all unfamiliar territory to them as well. She suddenly felt a familiar aura and stopped in her tracks before looking around. To her surprise, Kero flew up in front of her face. "I've found you!"

"K-Kero-chan!" Sakura cried in disbelief. "Don't tell me it happened to you, too!"

"Actually, I let myself in here. Time's moving in our world, and your dad and brother are getting really worried. Your dad's already called Tomoyo's mom to see if you're there with her. We have to hurry and get back before they get even more worried," Kero spoke. He peered down at the Pokemon, who were staring dumbfounded back at him. "Are these the Pokemon Tomoyo mentioned to me?"

"Ah, yeah. This is Pikachu, Piplup, Happiny, and Ampharos. Guys, this is..err…my guard---I mean, Pokemon, Kerberos!" Sakura introduced.

Pikachu and Piplup frowned. Another Pokemon who could speak human language like Meowth? They introduced themselves though. If Kero belonged to this sweet little girl, he can't be bad like Meowth, right?

"Tomoyo's right. They do repeat their names," Kero said flatly. "How do you know what they're saying?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. I think you have to be from this world to understand Pokemon language or something. Anyway, we're trying to find our way back to the others. Which direction did you come from?"

"That way," Kero pointed.

"Okay, then let's go," Sakura nodded. She stepped forward, but suddenly felt the ground give way underneath her. "HOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" her shriek pierced the air as she, Pikachu, Piplup, Happiny, and Ampharos fell through the hole in the ground. Only Kero was above ground. Alarmed, the Guardian Beast flew down towards the Cardmistress. "You alright, Sakura?"

"Hoeeeee…." Sakura groaned as she sat up and rubbed her throbbing head. "What's going on here?" Upon hearing Jessie's voice, she looked up with alarm. "You guys again!"

"That's right, little girl, and we're taking those Pokemon!" James laughed.

"Who are these people?" Kero asked, utterly confused as he looked at Sakura for explanation.

"They're Team Rocket and they're really bad guys," Sakura cried. "They want to steal Pokemon for their own personal gain!"

"Bad guys? They don't look it to me. More like wannabe robbers or something," Kero blinked. "Besides, what kind of thieves would wear white in the middle of daylight? Don't they usually wear black to conceal themselves?"

"What is that thing?" Jessie asked.

"I don't know, but we should catch it along with the other Pokemon!" Meowth declared as he pushed a button on the control box to release a green net. Quickly, Sakura pulled Kero out of the way as the net caught around Pikachu, Piplup, Happiny, and Ampharos. "No!" she cried.

"Ugh, we missed it, thanks to that dumb twerp!" Jessie snarled angrily, glaring at Sakura, who glared back at her.

"Well, we still have these other Pokemon," James exclaimed. "It's time to make a hasty repeat!" Before Team Rocket could advance any further, Ash's Staraptor suddenly flew in on the scene and ripped open the bag with its wing. Inside the hole, Sakura called on the Jump to help her climb out. Having seen this, Team Rocket widened their eyes.

"That hole was 6 feet deep! How are you able to jump out like that?" Meowth demanded.

"If I told you, I'd have to erase your memory. And since you saw my little secret, I have to erase your memory of what you just saw as well," Sakura replied as she held up the Erase Card. She tossed it into the air and struck it with her staff. "Cancel out what they just saw from their memories! Erase!" Within seconds, Team Rocket were left clueless about what Sakura just did, but unfortunately, Ash, Dawn, and Brock had seen it all from behind.

"W-woah, what's going on?" Dawn's eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. Were her eyes deceiving her, or she did she really see Sakura use some sort of magic?

"I saw it, too," Ash said.

"She must be a magician or something. Maybe that's what she and Tomoyo were trying to hide from us," Brock concluded.

"Sakura, Pikachu, everyone!" cried Ash.

_Uh-oh. I hope they didn't see that! _Sakura panicked as she spun around on her heels. "Y-You guys!" she stammered as the four Pokemon rushed towards the three young trainers, all but Ampharos excited to reunite with their trainers.

"Sakura, was that what we think we saw?" Dawn asked, staring at Sakura in a whole different lighting now.

"W-What do you mean?" Sakura asked nervously.

"We saw you doing some kind of magic. Is that what you were trying to keep from us?" Brock replied, frowning.

Sakura clenched her fists as she glanced guiltily down at the ground. Damn it, she should have been more careful in keeping her cover. But now the trainers had witnessed her magic as well. Well, she had no choice but to use the Erase on them as well. "Erase! E----"

"Wait! Don't erase our memories!" Ash cried. "We won't tell anyone!"

"Yeah!" Dawn nodded. "Just tell us what's going on!"

"We won't take it against you," Brock added.

Sakura sighed. Could she really trust their words? She supposed she could give it a shot. The only other people who knew about her magic ability was her best friend Tomoyo and older brother Touya. "I'll explain it all later. Anyway, this is my Guardian, Kerberos. He's going to be disguised as a Pokemon while he's here." She held the small winged lion up for Ash, Dawn, and Brock to see.

"Wow!" Both Dawn and Ash flipped open their Pokedex to try and get information, but unfortunately, no data came up.

"Uh, he's not a real Pokemon," Sakura laughed.

"Nice to meet ya," Kero introduced. "The name's Kerberos, but everyone calls me Kero."

"He talks!" Dawn cried.

"Hey, don't ignore us! Seviper, go!" Jessie yelled, annoyed that attention was turned away from them.

"You two, Carnivine!" James yelled.

A large pit-viper snake and some kind of weird-looking green flytrap creature emerged from their Pokeballs. Almost instantly, James's head was stuck inside Carnivine's head as he screamed for his Pokemon to let go and get in on the action. Jessie commanded for Seviper to use Poison Tail, while James told Carnivine to use Vine Whip. Meanwhile, Brock sent Sudowoodo forward (because the Pokemon was eager to battle). The tree Pokemon ran forward, its branched arm glowing, as it struck the two Pokemon to the ground. When its attention was offguard from Team Rocket, Pikachu came rushing into the scene with a volt tackle, sending Team Rocket blasting into oblivion as a result of an explosion.

Back at the train, Tomoyo was starting to get worried for her friend. When was Sakura going to come back already? She heard the faraway voice of the conductor as he came running back, and glanced up. Still no Sakura, Ash, Dawn, Brock, Kero, or the Pokemon. Then, spotting them approaching, she lit up as she ran up to them. "You're back!"

"Yep!" Sakura beamed. "And everyone's got their Pokemon back."

Upon returning to the train (the light up ahead having changed to green), the engineer used Ampharos to power the train's electricity. Meanwhile in the passenger compartment, Sakura decided to help out by using the Thunder. Alarmed, Tomoyo cried, "Sakura!"

"We already found out," Brock explained, smiling. "Your friend has a nifty little gift. I'm guessing this is what you meant when you said you wanted to keep where you came from a secret."

Sakura nodded. "Mm. But you guys probably have figured out on your own that we weren't from this world in the first place. I mean, what kind of person around here doesn't know what a Pokemon is like we do?"

"So how did you come into your abilities?" Ash asked.

"Well..." Sakura began to explain the story of her Cardcapturing days, with Kero helping her out. She finished off with, "And so I jumped across the ledge into Syaoran's arms, happy that he remembered who I am."

"That's awesome! And I'm glad you and Syaoran got together. He must be a really nice guy," Dawn commented.

"He wasn't nice at first," Sakura laughed. "He was really arrogant, bent on only getting the Clow Cards back to the book. He even said I wasn't fit enough to be a Cardcaptor and kept calling me weak. But eventually, he changed."

"Hey, doesn't that sort of fit Paul?" Dawn grinned as she looked at Ash and Brock.

"Who's Paul?" Tomoyo asked.

"He's an arrogant trainer who takes Pokemon training to a harsh level. He's pretty much like how you described Syaoran to be when you first met him," Ash explained. "And I can't wait to beat him when we get to the Pokemon Center in Lake Acuity!"

"Well, then, I'm looking forward to meeting him," Sakura grinned. If they described Paul to be like what Syaoran was like in the beginning---cold and arrogant, then he shouldn't be that awful of a guy.


End file.
